07 - ITALIAN PASSION FOR SUSPENSION

Renowned throughout the motorsport globe, the Andreani Group is much more than just the Italian importer for Öhlins…

Headed by enthusiastic founder Giuseppe Andreani, the company went from its traditional motocross roots to become the suspension partner of choice for major road race teams and among others, look after the factory supported Honda Ten Kate squad.

The company is also a World leader in suspension education hosting domestic and international delegates to be schooled in the theory and practice of the sublime art of motorcycle set-up.

With a special lecture hall that seats over 50, a stage houses a wide screen, bike-street simulator with bi-directional telemetry, all controlled by a special programme, all designed to bring the science of suspension to life. Andreani regularly host different types of training sessions and courses to increase the knowledge of suspension for their network of service centres and dealers.

In his day a top International MX rider in his own right, Giuseppe also played a part in the resurgence of Öhlins in World MX with top teams such as the Rinaldi Yamaha squad.

Although seen in the parc ferme of World Superbike and Supersport with the Ten Kate squad, the Andreani technicians have a truly eclectic group of customers. With road race teams from all the major National Championships including official technical assistance in the Suzuki, Yamaha, Honda, Kawasaki squads and Aprilia Trophy, Andreani help keep the Italian CIV series at a high level of suspension competition. The distinctive Andreani 'arrow' shirts can even be found in the MotoGP support classes of Moto2 and Moto3. And it's not only bikes, Andreani is very much present in the car racing scene in Italy as well, including everything four wheel from historic and modern in both racing and rally.

In off road Giuseppe and his technicians never forget their roots with a plethora of high level and grassroots riders in MX and Enduro relying on their expertise out in the field, so to speak.

The vast majority of Andreani's customers are still road and trackday riders who want to get the very most out of their machines and it is this daily interaction with bikers that gives the Group its ongoing experience.

The Andreani Group (also known as Suspension World) now employs 22 staff in a 2,000 square metre state of the art complex and has even set-up a Spanish operation but it's fair to say with a well grounded boss, no-one is allowed to forget their roots…

Five Minutes with Giuseppe Andreani

As an ex-motocrosser it must have been a great feeling being part of Öhlins' return to World MX in 2010? There was a really big involvement for me in this for sure. MX has always been my life, I was personally at every race and invested a lot of time and I guess energy in this project.

My company and all technicians involved spent a lot of time in testing and development in collaboration with Öhlins in Sweden. In the end it was a really big honour for me to get Yamaha again into such a high level on the MX circuit.

Presumably you have a passion for both tarmac and dirt these days? Thanks to the great experience we have in both Off road and Road Racing, we had really big success also in the Supermoto category, which is obviously the greatest mix of the two. We support directly many Teams and also the TM Factory Squad, the current World Champions.

The SMD world championship is a really important class for us and we find also here many tests and have developed special materials. We are a 360° Company and you can find us everywhere. We're into WSBK, Moto2, Moto3, EMXS and the World Enduro Championship.

What would you say was your favourite moment in racing working with these top teams? The most emotional for me was Ten Kate winning at the very first race they made with our support in 2009 at the Misano World Championship circuit.

Which rider / team do you have especially good memories working with over the years? Well, I would say again Ten Kate. Just because it's many years we know each other and its been such a great collaboration.

Commercially as your company has got bigger, this must have brought pressures of staff and logistics with it? As I did in my Racing career I used to risk a lot also in my business and I have tried always to be surrounded by good people. Guys that have a particular passion for motorcycles and this job and that are willing to get better every day and increase their knowledge. This helps a lot in our business and also for the motivation inside the Company.

You must be proud of the way the business has been built up. It´s an impressive operation... It wasn't that easy and honestly I'm proud of what Andreani Group is now. We aim to increase our technical level and be able to serve as best as we can our daily customers to try and give them the same attention that we provide to our top World Championship teams. This is probably the reason why our business and relation to our customer gets stronger and stronger. We opened now also a new facility in Spain in collaboration with Juan Martinez and we will replicate the same business strategy like we did in Italy.

What makes you passionate about your job? Maybe the fact that I used to race all my life and to be on the race field every weekend, gives me again that feeling like in my younger years. That's probably one of the reasons!

And what do you do for fun/relaxation? When I get time, and honestly it's not that easy, I go running before dinner. Music in my headphones and relax...